Student Sexual Misconduct Allegations Made Against Main Line Teacher

WYNNEWOOD, PA — A longtime teacher at a Main Line school has been accused of sexual misconduct with a student and has resigned.

Friends' Central School Prima Lingua and Latin teacher Margaret Somerville resigned recently after allegations of the misconduct were made, the Wynnewood-based Quaker school said in a letter to the community.

The school Monday announced the allegations and resignation.

According to the school, the alleged misconduct occurred "some 20 years ago," and that the teacher, identified as Somerville, was also an ordained minister who served as a board member of Interfaith Philadelphia starting in 2017.

Officials do not believe any other students were part of any alleged misconduct.

Below is the full letter issued by Friends' Central School:

We are writing to share some serious and distressing news. Earlier this academic year, we received an allegation of sexual misconduct relating to events that were reported to have occurred some 20 years ago. The report stated that Prima Lingua and Latin teacher Margaret Somerville, known to many as Margaret Roberts, had sexual contact with a minor while the individual was a student at Friends’ Central. Please note that while Upper School students often receive family communications, they are not receiving this letter.

As soon as we received this report, we immediately placed Margaret Somerville on administrative leave – where she remained until her recent resignation – and immediately reported the information to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services ChildLine, a statewide mechanism for reporting on child safety issues.

Following the ChildLine report, Friends’ Central maintained regular contact with local law enforcement and cooperated fully in their process. This included following their directive that we refrain from conducting our own internal investigation while their review was pending. When law enforcement permitted, we immediately began our own review by retaining an experienced independent investigator, Kristine Grady Derewicz of Littler Mendelson, P.C. Her investigation, which just concluded, found the allegations about Margaret Somerville to be credible.

Based on both the original report and Kristine’s thorough investigation, there is no indication that Margaret Somerville engaged in sexual misconduct with any other students during her tenure at the school. If you have information to the contrary, please contact Kristine directly at kderewicz@littler.com or 267.402.3003; or Christina Abbott at cabbott@friendscentral.org or 610-645-5051.

We want to acknowledge that, while the timeline of law enforcement’s process has been standard from their perspective, it has felt like a long period of silence from Friends’ Central leadership since she was placed on leave. We hope that, as a community, you understand our need to comply with law enforcement’s directives and to maintain the highest standard of confidentiality until this point in time.

The safety and wellbeing of Friends’ Central students is our first priority. Friends’ Central has a number of policies and practices to support this unwavering commitment. Among them, policies focused on healthy and respectful boundaries with students, and annual teacher and staff training that includes mandatory reporting and professional conduct and standards. In addition, all teachers, staff, and volunteers at Friends’ Central are fully compliant with Pennsylvania state requirements for child abuse clearances at the state and federal levels.

This is difficult news to process. Tomorrow, when Upper and Middle School students arrive, they will proceed directly to divisional meetings where they will hear from their principals. Please speak with your Middle and Upper School children before they come to school tomorrow. Should you need resources to assist you with this conversation, some are listed below. Parents of Lower School students, we are not discussing this at Lower School tomorrow. However, we are aware that students may have questions for teachers, and teachers in all three divisions are aware that this may arise and will support your children when they do.

Following their divisional meetings, counselors will be available for students who need their support. We will continue to give students additional opportunities to seek counseling throughout the week. If you have any concerns about your child as we all work to come to terms with this news, please contact your divisional principal or Student Support Services.

As always, we thank you for your partnership.

Beth D. Johnson '77
Head of School

James C. Wright
Clerk, Board of Trustees